Cult Filmmaker Don Coscarelli Debuts New Movie At Music Box

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 7, 2013 4:30PM

Casual film buffs may not be familiar with the name Don Coscarelli, but his films are a staple with fans of cult horror and are staples on late night television. Coscarelli was the driving force behind such fringe favorites as The Beastmaster, Survival Quest, the Phantasm series of films and, of recent note, the 2002 classic Bubba Ho-Tep, which starred Bruce Campbell as Elvis Presley and Ossie Davis as John F. Kennedy—trapped inside a black man’s body— as residents of a Texas nursing home who fight a mummy.

Coscarelli’s latest film, John Dies at the End, is his latest addition to his offbeat oeuvre. The film centers on David, a man who has wild hallucinations and can see both the past and future vividly in his mind, and his adventures. Meanwhile, a sequel to Bubba Ho-Tep, Bubba Nosferatu, reportedly is in the works.

Coscarelli comes to Chicago this weekend to premiere John Dies at the End at the Music Box Theatre in a pair of double feature screenings Feb. 8 and 9. The Feb. 8 screening is paired with Bubba Ho-Tep at 7:20 p.m., while Feb. 9 features a back-to-back with Phantasm II, the best and arguably most-watched of the Phantasm series, at 7 p.m. Coscarelli will be available at both screenings and will introduce the films. Tickets are still available for each screening as of post time.